Terry: Poynor deserves credit for credit he gave us

Buying on time was an important thing in eastern New Mexico in the 1960s and ‘70s and Poynor’s White Store was one of the best places where you could buy on time.

With the recent death of Marlin, half of the Poynor brother team that made it happen for lots of people in Portales, the method of retail starts to pass into history.

The first things I bought with money I earned myself came from their White Auto Store. While paper route money was paying good for a teen in Portales it didn’t provide for everything my enterprise required.

First thing I ever financed there was a better bicycle to throw papers from. The three-speed made it possible to cover more ground and take another route, which eventually made it possible to buy a car. That car needed mag wheels and tires and Poynor’s provided them on credit.

My siblings and I established our first credit history at that store, buying bikes, shotguns, and lots of other things.

I learned I needed a down payment and I learned the payment had to be made every month on time. Once I had paid stuff off I was able to borrow money for vehicles, my trailer house and eventually a home. Today that entry into a credit history is only accomplished with the help of a parent.

Lots of families wouldn’t have been able to afford important tires, appliances and furniture without that enterprising business model of offering credit in-house.

They would have struggled to pay in cash to replace a blown tire or a refrigerator that had given up the ghost.

Many wouldn’t have been able to borrow money elsewhere to buy those things. Credit cards weren’t too popular in conservative Portales.

Later on, I got an up-close appreciation of what it took to make that business model work. I married the credit manager (daughter of the owner) at a similar White Auto Store in Tucumcari. My father-in-law Bill Coe loved the furniture and appliance business and worked hard to grow his business. By that time big box stores like K-Mart and Walmart had arrived and discounted prices trumped credit.

Making the collection calls was the hard part, but it was the only way that type business survived. My wife and father-in-law had to work that part of the business hard so that customers respected them and I know it was the same for Marlin and Frank Poynor and their families.

While he had children my age, Marlin and I connected from time to time, through the connection of the like family businesses, through the church and through Rotary. While he and Frank were mostly retired by the time I came back to Portales, and they haven’t lived here for several years, the community has still lost a treasure.

A kind and friendly businessman, a role model as a husband, father, businessman and a devoted community servant has been lost to us.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]